Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Assignment 2: B&W Set

I have now made a decision to submit this set in B&W, partly because it is an area of development that I want to address, but also because the subject resonates better with a B&W treatment. This assignment addresses a subject that speaks of past pain, giving way to a peaceful present, but an uncertain future, the sobriety of monochrome sits well in this context. The area I have selected is also rather devoid of colour, but structurally very powerful, again the more graphical nature of B&W will suite my subject.

Selecting B&W is, however, simply a start, what conversion to use, how stark, how soft? First of all I am simply using Lightroom, not any specific B&W processing software - I find LR to be up to the task. Secondly I am sticking with pure B&W, no colour casts and also no specific imitation of film. I am using a digital camera, let that be the medium in which I work, I do not need to emulate film. I have taken advantage of the extra latitude that B&W brings to contrast and used the colour channel conversion to later things such as the blue and red darkness.

The move to B&W changed the photo selection, as did an opportunity to visit the Nazi museum on the weekend. I plan to start the set with the legacy of the Nazis, but also reflecting how important it is that a museum in Munich should feature such artifacts, finally the city is facing up to its past. I still face challenges in sequencing the photographs. I am not trying to tell a story as such, however, the order of the photographs needs to convey the fundamental tenet of the set, that Munich is trying to set its past aside and look to a new future in relations to the Jewish people. I have placed the photos into a specific order for this blog and will present without any explanation, is there an explicit narrative, does the message I want to portray come through.

All but the first and last photo portray people in this space, all try to present a positive or at worst neutral human experience. I have been free in how I shape the photographs, 1x1 is used a lot, but suits an enclosed urban space. I now need to dwell on this set and see if it works for me and in the order it is presented. One reason for updating my blog this way, is that it creates a reference set that I can access from phone, tablet, and pretty much any other internet connected device.

My Blogs

This is one of several Blogs I have created to document my work in pursuit of a degree in Photography with the Open College of the Arts. Each course I work on will have a separate blog. This is to simplify assessment and to separate the courses. However, I view the Blogs as a continuous record of my progress and thoughts about my photography education. At any given time the blog at the top of the list will be the active one.